Oregon and Washington’s timber counties are facing serious financial troubles including cuts to education, public roads and law enforcement since they stopped receiving vital payments from the federal government.

For many years, timber fueled the economy in these rural areas, but now private timber companies dominate the market and the federal government has taken over large areas of forestland. Since then, under the Secure Rural Schools and Self-Determination Act, a bill first introduced by Oregon Senator Ron Wyden in 2000, the federal government sent payments to affected counties.

When Congress didn’t reauthorize the SRS in 2017, federal payments to local governments have decreased dramatically or completely stopped. Skamania County Chair Bob Hamlin said 80% of the county is federal land and just 2% is fully taxed land, making it hard for the county to make money on its own. The payments were supposed to make up for the lost property tax revenue.

“SRS is a replacement for the 25% that we would have received on federal timber land,” Hamlin said. The SRS payments ended last year, forcing the counties to make cuts across the board.

Among the public institutions affected by the loss of SRS funding is the Stevenson-Carson School District, which has not received timber money since 2015. In the past six years, the district has reduced expenses by $6 million, meaning big cuts to staff and activities.